This research explored how self-brand connections (SBCs) influence consumers’ ad responses in South Korea where collectivistic cultures, especially in-group orientations, are highly valued. Synthesizing social identity and construal level theories, Study 1 found that individuals tended to feel proximal to the brand that is perceived to be highly consistent with their in-groups. Furthermore, individuals’ SBCs were found to mediate such a relationship between in-group orientations and psychological distance to the brand. Expanding to the advertising context, Study 2 investigated the interactive effect of SBCs and ad messages construals. The results demonstrated that ads featuring low-construal messages evoked more favorable attitudes toward and purchase intentions of brands with weak SBCs, whereas no such matching effect was found for brands with strong SBCs.
AakerJ. L. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34(3), 347–356.
2.
Aguirre-RodriguezA.Boveda-LambieA. M.MontoyaD. Y. (2014). Exploring ethnic consumer response to crossover brand extensions. Journal of Business Research, 67(4), 457–463.
3.
AhluwaliaR. (2000). Examination of psychological processes underlying resistance to persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, 27(2), 217–232.
4.
AlgesheimerR.DholakiaU. M.HerrmannA. (2005). The social influence of brand community: Evidence from European car clubs. Journal of Marketing, 69(3), 19–34.
ChaudhuriA.HolbrookM. B. (2001). The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance: The role of brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing, 65(2), 81–93.
7.
ChebatJ.Gelinas-ChebatC.HombourgerS.WoodsideA. G. (2003). Testing consumers’ motivation and linguistic ability as moderators of advertising readability. Psychology & Marketing, 20(7), 599–624.
8.
ChengS. Y. Y.WhiteT. B.ChaplinL. N. (2012). The effects of self-brand connections on responses to brand failure: A new look at the consumer-brand relationship. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22:, 280–288.
ChoiY. K.SeoY.YoonS. (2017). E-WOM messaging on social media: Social ties, temporal distance, and message. Internet Research, 27(3), 495–505.
11.
ChungK. Y.EichenseherJ. W.TaniguchiT. (2008). Ethical perceptions of business students: Differences between east Asia and the USA and among “Confucian” cultures. Journal of Business Ethics, 79(1–2), 121–132.
12.
CrossS. E.MadsonL. (1997). Models of the self: Self-construals and gender. Psychological Bulletin, 122(1), 5–37.
13.
DolichI. J. (1969). Congruence relationships between self images and product brands. Journal of Marketing Research, 6(1), 80–84.
14.
DwivediA.JohnsonL. W.McDonaldR. E. (2015). Celebrity endorsement, self-brand connection and consumer-based brand equity. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 24(5), 449–461.
15.
DwivediA.McDonaldR. E.JohnsonL. W. (2014). The impact of a celebrity endorser’s credibility on consumer self-brand connection and brand evaluation. Journal of Brand Management, 21, 559–578.
16.
EkinciY.RileyM. (2003). An investigation of self-concept: Actual and ideal self-congruence compared in the context of service evaluation. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 10(4), 201–214.
17.
EngT. Y.KimE. J. (2006). An examination of the antecedents of e-customer loyalty in a Confucian culture: The case of South Korea. The Service Industries Journal, 26(4), 437–458.
18.
EscalasJ. E. (2004). Narrative processing: Building consumer connections to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14(1–2), 168–180.
19.
EscalasJ. E.BettmanJ. R. (2003). You are what they eat: The influence of reference groups on consumers’ connections to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13(3), 339–348.
20.
EscalasJ. E.BettmanJ. R. (2005). Self-construal, reference groups, and brand meaning. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(3), 378–389.
21.
FeingoldA. (1991). Sex differences in the effects of similarity and physical attractiveness on opposite-sex attraction. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 12(3), 357–367.
22.
FerraroR.KirmaniA.MatherlyT. (2013). Look at me! Look at me! Conspisuous brand usage, self-brand connection, and dilution. Journal of Marketing Research, 50(4), 477–488.
23.
FournierS. (1994). A consumer-brand relationship framework for strategic brand management [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Florida].
24.
FritzM. S.MacKinnonD. P. (2007). Required sample size to detect the mediated effect. Psychological Science, 18(3), 233–239.
25.
GaertnerS. L.MannJ. A.DovidioJ. F.MurrellA. J.PomareM. (1990). How does cooperation reduce intergroup bias?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 692–704.
26.
GoffmanE. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face interaction. Aldine.
27.
GudykunstW. B.YoonY.NishidaT. (1987). The influence of individualism-collectivism on perceptions of communication in ingroup and outgroup relationships. Communication Monographs, 54(3), 295–306.
28.
HallE. T. (1976). Beyond culture. Anchor Press.
29.
HanS.ShavittS. (1994). Persuasion and culture: Advertising appeals in individualistic and collectivistic societies. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 30(4), 326–350.
30.
HayesA. F. (2009). Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical mediation analysis in the new Millennium. Communication Monographs, 76(4), 408–420.
31.
HayesA. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press.
32.
HayesA. F.PreacherK. J. (2010). Quantifying and testing indirect effects in simple mediation models when the constituent paths are nonlinear. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 45(4), 627–660.
33.
HeJ.WangX. S.CurryD. J. (2017). Mediation analysis: A new test when all or some variables are categorical. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34(4), 780–798.
34.
HeiderF. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. Lawrence Erlbaum.
35.
HessA. C.MelnykV. (2016). Pink or blue? The impact of gender cues on brand perceptions. European Journal of Marketing, 50(9–10), 1550–1574.
36.
HofstedeG. (1984). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. McGraw-Hill.
37.
HofstedeG. (1991). The cultural relativity of the quality of life concept. Academy of Management Review, 9(3), 389–398.
38.
HongJ. W.ZinkhanG. M. (1995). Self-concept and advertising effectiveness: The influence of congruency, conspicuousness, and response mode. Psychology & Marketing, 12(1), 53–77.
39.
HuiC. H. (1988). Measurement of individualism-collectivism. Journal of Research in Personality, 22(1), 17–36.
40.
KangI.CuiH.SonJ. (2019). Conformity consumption behavior and FoMO. Sustainability, 11(17), 4734.
41.
KemmelmeierM.JamborE. E.LetnerJ. (2006). Individualism and good works: Cultural variation in giving and volunteering across the United States. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37(3), 327–344.
42.
KesslerT.HollbachS. (2005). Group-based emotions as determinants of ingroup identification. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 677–685.
43.
KimD.SongD. (2019). Can brand experience shorten consumers’ psychological distance toward the brand? The effect of brand experience on consumers’ construal level. Journal of Brand Management, 26(3), 255–267.
44.
KimD.SungY. H.LeeS. Y.ChoiD.SungY. (2016). Are you on timeline or news feed? The roles of Facebook pages and construal level in increasing ad effectiveness. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 312–320.
45.
KimD.YooJ. J.LeeY. (2018). The influence of self-concept on ad effectiveness: Interaction between self-concept and construal levels on effectiveness of advertising. Journal of Marketing Communications, 24(7), 734–745.
46.
KimH.JohnD. R. (2008). Consumer response to brand extensions: Construal level as a moderator of the importance of perceived fit. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 18, 116–126.
47.
KimK. J. (2014). Can smartphones be specialists? Effects of specialization in mobile advertising. Telematics and Informatics, 31(4), 640–647.
48.
KimM. J.LeeM. Y. (2016). “It’s not just a winter parka”: The meaning of branded outdoor jackets among Korean adolescents. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 7(1), 60–71.
49.
KimS.BaekT. H. (2018). Examining the antecedents and consequences of mobile app engagement. Telematics and Informatics, 35(1), 148–158.
50.
KimY.ShonD.ChoiS. M. (2011). Cultural difference in motivations for using social network sites: A comparative study of American and Korean college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(1), 365–372.
51.
KimY.YangJ. (2011). The influence of Chemyon on facework and conflict styles: Searching for the Korean face and its impact. Public Relations Review, 37, 60–67.
KrugmanH. E. (1965). The impact of television advertising: Learning without involvement. Public Opinion Quarterly, 29, 349–356.
55.
KwonE.MattilaA. S. (2015). The effect of self-brand connection and self-construal on brand lovers’ word of mouth (WOM). Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 56(4), 427–435.
56.
LeeA. Y.AakerJ. L. (2004). Bringing the frame into focus: The influence of regulatory fit on processing fluency and persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(2), 205–218.
57.
LeeJ.HamC. D.KimM. (2013). Why people pass along online video advertising: From the perspectives of the interpersonal communication motives scale and the theory of reasoned action. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 13(1), 1–13.
58.
LeeS. Y.YooC.KimD. H.SungY. H. (2019, March27–31). Self-brand connection, psychological distance, and ad message strategy: The effect of self-brand connection on ad effectiveness [Conference session]. 2019 American Academy of Advertising Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, United States.
LibermanN.SagristanoM. D.TropeY. (2002). The effect of temporal distance of level of mental construal. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 523–534.
61.
LibermanN.TropeY. (1998). The role of feasibility and desirability considerations in near and distant future decisions: A test of temporal construal theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), 5–18.
62.
LibermanN.TropeY.StephanE. (2007). Psychological distance. In KruglanskiA. W.HigginsE. T. (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 353–381). Guilford Press.
63.
LibermanN.TropeY.WakslakC. (2007). Construal level theory and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17(2), 113–117.
64.
MarkusH. R.KitayamaS. (1998). The cultural psychology of personality. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29, 63–87.
65.
MillerD.DownsJ. S.PrenticeD. A. (1998). Minimal conditions for the creation of a unit relationship: The social bond between birthdaymates. European Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 475–481.
66.
MolinerM.Monferrer-TiradoD.Estrada-GuillénM. (2018). Consequences of customer engagement and customer self-brand connection. Journal of Services Marketing, 32(4), 387–399.
67.
MongaA. B.JohnD. R. (2007). Cultural differences in brand extension evaluation: The influence of analytic versus holistic thinking. Journal of Consumer Research, 33(4), 529–536.
68.
PaekH.YuJ.BaeB. J. (2009). Is on-line health promotion culture-bound? Cultural characteristics manifested in U.S. and south Korean antismoking web sites. Journal of Advertising, 38(1), 35–48.
69.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 717–731.
70.
SchoemannA. M.BoultonA. J.ShortS. D. (2017). Determining power and sample size for simple and complex mediation model. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8(4), 379–386.
71.
SirgyM. J. (1985). Using self-congruity and ideal congruity to predict purchase motivation. Journal of Business Research, 13(3), 195–206.
72.
SongX.HuangF.LiX. (2017). The effect of embarrassment on preferences for brand conspicuousness: The roles of self-esteem and self-brand connection. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 27(1), 69–83.
StephanE.LibermanN.TropeY. (2011). The effects of time perspective and level of construal on social distance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(2), 397–402.
76.
StetsJ. E.BurkeP. J. (2000). Identity theory and social identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63(3), 224–237.
77.
SungY.ChoiS. M. (2012). The influence of self-construal on self-brand congruity in the United States and Korea. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(1), 151–166.
78.
TakJ.KaidL. L.LeeS. (1997). A cross-cultural study of political advertising in the United States and Korea. Communication Research, 24, 413–430.
79.
TanT. M.SaloJ.JuntunenJ.KumarA. (2018). A comparative study of creation of self-brand connection amongst well-liked, new, and unfavorable brands. Journal of Business Research, 92, 71–80.
80.
ThomasV. L.VinualesG. (2017). Understanding the role of social influence in piquing curiosity and influencing attitudes and behaviors in a social network environment. Psychology & Marketing, 34(9), 884–893.
81.
TriandisH. C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Journal of Personality, 69(6), 907–924.
82.
TriandisH. C. (1994). Culture and social behavior. McGraw-Hill.
83.
TropeY.LibermanN. (2010). Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychological Review, 117(2), 440–463.
84.
TropeY.LibermanN. (2012). Construal level theory. In Van LangeP. A.KruglanskiA. W.HigginsE. T. (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology (pp. 118–134). SAGE.
85.
TropeY.LibermanN.WakslakC. (2007). Construal levels and psychological distance: Effects on representation, prediction, evaluation, and behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17(2), 83–95.
86.
VallacherR. R.WegnerD. M. (1987). What do people think they’re doing? Action identification and human behavior. Psychological Review, 94(1), 3–15.
87.
WeiY.YuC. (2012). How do reference groups influence self-brand connections among Chinese consumers?Journal of Advertising, 41(2), 39–54.
88.
YangD.LuY.SunY. (2018). Factors influencing Chinese consumers’ brand love: Evidence from sports brand consumption. Social Behavior and Personality, 46(2), 301–302.
89.
YooB.DonthuN. (2001). Developing and validating a multidimensional consumer-based brand equity scale. Journal of Business Research, 52(1), 1–14.
90.
YooB.DonthuN.LeeS. (2000). An examination of selected marketing mix elements and brand equity. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, 28(2), 195–211.
91.
ZhangY. B.LinM.NonakaA.BeomK. (2005). Harmony, hierarchy and conservatism: A cross-cultural comparison of confucian values in China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Communication Research Reports, 22(2), 107–115.
